7. PARAMETERS › 7.3 Unit Level Parameters › 7.3.5 CICS Application Unit Definition (CICAPU)

7.3.5 CICS Application Unit Definition (CICAPU)

The CICS Analyzer provides application-level usage and
workload information by means of user-defined application
units.  The application unit is stored in the CA MICS data
element CICAPU (CICS Application Unit ID) and is derived via
a user exit that you supply to CA MICS. CICAPU is used as a
file summarization key for the CICCAU (CICS Application Unit
Activity) and CICCAC (CICS Application Count) files.  It
enables you to classify and summarize CICS workload data in a
customized fashion to meet your reporting needs.  Although
the method of classification varies among CA MICS users, it
is usually based on one of the following approaches:

    o  Classification by transaction identification

       This approach classifies the CICS workload by
       transaction ID.  For example, transactions 'ABCD' and
       'WXYZ' are always heavy resource drains, while other
       transactions are quick inquiry transactions.  Normally
       this approach utilizes a table lookup of CICS
       transaction IDs to group the work.

    o  Classification by service area requested

       This approach classifies work based on the service
       area exercised.  For example, a bank may divide
       transactions into the application categories of demand
       deposits, time deposits, administrative services, and
       system support activity.  This method typically
       identifies the application unit by a prefix of the
       CICS Transaction ID (such as demand deposit
       transaction IDs beginning with the letter R).

    o  Classification by user

       This approach classifies transaction data according to
       the user who requested the service.  This method can
       use various ways to extract the identity of the
       requester from the CICS terminal or user identifiers.

DEFINING THE APPLICATION UNIT

The data element CICAPU is derived by the user exit CICAURT
(CICS Application Unit Derivation Routine) in
prefix.MICS.PARMS(CICAURT).  This exit is invoked for each
transaction record processed during CA MICS daily processing.
Any data elements read from the input transaction record,
such as transaction ID, program, and user ID, can be stored
in CICAPU.  Details on coding the CICAURT exit is provided in
Section 7.3.6 of this guide.

CICAPU is 12 bytes in length.  All unused bytes are
padded with blanks.  You can populate CICAPU by concatenating
or manipulating multiple data elements during the CICAURT
exit routine.  For example, you might define your application
structure as having two parts:       project and transaction
identifier.  You can assign the first two bytes of the
12-byte CICAPU field to the project identification and the
next four bytes to the CICS transaction ID.  In this example,
the actual values of the field might be:

              111
     123456789012   Project          Transaction
     ------------   ---------------  ------------------------
    'DDRBAL      '  Demand Deposits  Account Balance Inquiry
    'TDINQN      '  Time Deposits    Name and Address Inquiry

You should consider the following when defining CICAPU:

1.  CICAPU is a file summarization key.  Therefore, its
    content will have a direct impact on the size of the file
    where it is stored.  The higher the number of
    combinations, the larger the file and the CA MICS data
    base become.  Since certain transactions may be of more
    interest when considered as a group than as individual
    transaction ID, you may want to combine them in a single
    CICAPU to conserve space.  Examples of these types of
    transactions are:

    o  CICS system transactions, the identifiers of which all
       begin with the letter prefixes such as CS or CE.

    o  Transaction IDs associated with purchased application
       packages, such as IBM Field Developed Programs.

    o  Trivial applications, especially those very frequently
       used, such as simple menu processors.

2.  Any data element that may be used in later reporting from
    the CICCAU or CICCAC files must be coded into CICAPU if
    the data element is not kept in the file.  An example is
    the data element TRANTYPE (transaction type), which may
    be useful in some sites to group CICS workloads by short,
    medium, long, or conversational transaction type.
    TRANTYPE is not part of the CICCAC or CICCAU file, so
    save it in CICAPU if you plan to report on it from these
    files.